This invention relates to pill dispensing apparatus, and more particularly to an automatic pill dispensing device for dispensing a plurality of pills at selected times over a predetermined period of time.
The use of daily medication is common today, particularly among the elderly. In the United States alone, more than half of those over the age of 65 suffer from chronic aliments which require daily medication. Many of the elderly are in nursing homes or being attended by health care professionals. However, many others must care for themselves and make certain that the medication is given in proper doses and at proper times. This particularly becomes a problem with the elderly who suffer from loss of memory regarding the location and dosage of medication. The elderly frequently also have difficulty opening pharmaceutical containers because of arthritis and other physical impairments.
There is also a difficulty with those who must take a plurality of different medications at the same time. The elderly, in particular, have problems with remembering and dealing with several different medications requiting different doses at different times and frequencies. Such problems may lead to overdosage, under dosage or improper combinations of doses, any one of which can be harmful and even life threatening. The resulting anxiety and loss of peace of mind to both the elderly and their families and friends can hardly be over-estimated.
Numerous devices have been developed for automatically dispensing pills and medication at timed intervals. U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,992 (Brown) discloses a timing mechanism having a dispensing wheel with a plurality of medication storage compartments. Each compartment empties into a hopper which can be accessed by the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,606 (Lewis et al) discloses a similar device including an alarm means to alert the patient at the time pills are dispensed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,651 (Seidmore, et al.) discloses another such rotating canister apparatus in which pills fall from each compartment into a chute at given time intervals.
These prior art devices and others do not provide for a means for simultaneously taking several different medications, each having different dosages and time intervals. Although some prior art devices contemplate loading a plurality of pills in each compartment to take care of this problem, such cannot be done legally by a pharmacist, who must load each container with a specific prescription. To the extent that such is done by the patient, it is subject to layman error resulting in incorrect and even harmful doses.
These prior art devices also do not resolve the problem of preventing overdoses. If the medication dropped into the hopper is not taken, it remains there for later consumption when other medication has been added to the hopper. Even with the presence of an alarm, the elderly and others may become confused or may shut off the alarm without taking the medication.
The prior art devices also do not provide for a means of physically removing the pills and medication from each compartment in the rotating cartridge. Pills are frequently gelatin capsules or otherwise susceptible to becoming sticky and adhering to the inside of a cartridge compartment. Consequently, such medication may not easily fall out of a dispensing device at the time needed.
Consequently, there exist a need for a simple and reliable automatic mechanism to dispense a plurality of pill prescriptions at timed intervals and proper dosages. There is also a need for notifying the user that the pills are ready at the appointed time and for avoiding overdoses by limiting availability of the pills to only the dose to be taken at the time and by keeping an accurate record of all medication taken. There is also a need for having such a system which is easy to operate and maintain, which can be filled by a competent pharmacist and which can automatically operate for a sustained period of time, such as a week, without having to be reset or reloaded.